What Colour should I be?

You Need Some Purple in Your Life

Purple will make you feel ambitious, independent, and creative. And with a little purple, you will project an aura of individuality. If you want more extravagance, you've got to get a little purple in your life! For extra punch: Combine purple with green or orange The downside of purple: It can evoke sad feelings The consequences of more purple in your life: You will feel an increase in your artistic abilities You will find balance in the most chaotic parts of your life You will feel calm and will be hard to disturb

What Color Do You Need?

Wings - Altered Shipping Tags

NZ Mail Art - Mini Books from Altered Shippping Tags ...

The theme was "Wings" - we all made between 4-8 altered shipping tags (11 x 5.5 cm) - and we can do what we like with them once we've received our swap tags back. They can be put together as a mini book, or used in an altered book etc etc etc ...

Lots of fun, and I'm looking forward to doing it again!!

Tribal Angel

This is "Tribal Angel" ...

He was made for ATC Art Dolls October challenge "WINGS", and was sent to the winner of the challenge.

His body is from a rag doll pattern, adapted for PAPER Art Dolls - he was a lot of fun to make - I love his face!!

Feathers

A fun theme!!! "
Feathers" - made for NZ Fabs September swap.

The kiwi ATC was stamped, then stitched - I used fabric pens, and DMC stranded cotton.

The chicken is from a piece of fabric that I found at Brenda's Craft Cupboard - I fell in love with it, and had to use it for this swap! I stitched around the chicken, and added beads & french knots.

I received some gorgeous Feather fabric ATCs in this swap - a fun Pukeko, a green tribal tc, a lovely peacock feather ... everyone's take on this theme was so varied ...

Queen of New Zealand

"Queen of New Zealand" was made for ATC Art Dolls "Red, White & Blue" challenge - she was sent to the challenge winner.

I really enjoy this group - we have heaps of fun, and I love to make and send challenge dolls.

I hand-drew her face, and her body & arms are from my own templates. Her legs are chenille stems, and she's holding a New Zealand flag.

Face of an Angel

Made for NZ Mail Art - postcard swap - "Things with wings" theme. I do enjoy making postcards, I think I like the size (6" x 4"), and it's so nice to receive them in the mail!!

Wild Art

I LOVE TO MAKE ART DOLLS!!!

This doll - "Wild Art" - was made for an Alternative Artists challenge ... we had to make something that expressed ourselves as an artist. I decided to make an art doll - as these are one of my favourite things to do - and it had to be a little bit funky, a little bit wild, and a lot of me ...

What fun!!

Body Parts swap

"The Eyes Have It"

Made for Weird n Wacky "Body Parts" swap - the saying is from Brian Andreas.

"you're the strangest person I ever met, she said & I said you too & we decided we'd know each other the longest time."

Body Parts swap

This ATC was made for Weird n Wacky "Body Parts swap - I really enjoyed this swap, and this "Put your best foot forward" tc was definitely a fun one to make.

Silver on black is such a cool combo!!

Blog Action Day Video

Mr 4 Square

This is Mr 4 Square - made for ATC Art Dolls ...

The theme was "Using Junk Mail" - I struggled with this - until I found a 4 square brochure - and there he was - "Mr 4 Square" !!!

The background is collaged with food pics from the brochure, and Mr 4 himself has been cut out, and his head attached with a brad.

I loved making him - and I think he's soooooo cute!!! lol

Women of Influence

**Princess Diana**

The first name I thought of when I received this Altered Book with the theme "Women of Influence".

I admired Diana, and felt much sorrow and loss when she died. I'm very glad that I got this chance to show my admiration for her, and hope that the recipient enjoys the page.

Seahorse Fabric ATC

Made for NZ Fab ATCs - this is slightly larger than usual, as I added the beading around the edges. I found the instructions in Stitching mag, and just HAD to do it!!

The seahorse is stamped on acetate, stitched to the fabric (by hand - like ALL of my fab ATCs!!), and sand added. This was received by Carol D in our "Water" swap, and I really enjoyed making it.

Animorphs

These three ATCs were made for Weird n Wacky "Animorphs" swap




- I really had to think "outside the square" for these
- but heaps of fun tho!!


AND now on to the next one - "BODY PARTS"...

Winter ATCs

~**Winter ATCs**~

These were made for ATCs-NZ July "Winter Swap",

I had a lot of fun with this swap as I love snowmen. The background of these ATCs are scrapbooking papers (surprise! lol), and the snowmen are die-cuts. I added glitter, snowflakes etc.

And yes, that is a penguin in amongst them, isn't he cute?

Blue & Orange ATD

**FUNKY CHICK ATD**

This doll was made for Artist Trading Dolls groups June swap - the theme was "Complimentary colours" - I picked Blue & Orange - not normally colours that I would work with, but I had fun with it.

Actually, I don't like Orange, but I have to admit that she looks good in it !!

Bookmarks

~~BOOKMARKS~~

- made for Mail-Art 4 Kids -
sent to Tui.

This was a fun swap - I really enjoy making bookmarks, and receiving them !!! One can never have too many bookmarks. I got back two gorgeous ones from Pearl.

More INCHIES

"INCHIES" - for NZ Mail Art July swap.

I love to make these - they are such a challenge - to fit plenty of detail on a 1" canvas - I'm looking forward to our next "Inchie" swap !!












Quite a few of my stamps are suitable for "INCHIES" - I had a play with various ones, and discovered that even the large ones reveal amazing pics when an inch square is punched out of it - my square punch is going to get quite a work-out over the next few months ... LOL

My Fabric ATCs for Trade - Slideshow

Fabric ATCs for trade

Slideshow Babs

This is "Slideshow Babs" ...

so named because her body is made from a slide mount (DH helped with the name!). She was fun to make ... I hand-drew her face, arms & legs, and used a tiny pompom on the top of her hat.

She will be sent out as a PIF (Pay if Forward) for ATC Art Dolls - along with the other two that are in mid-make !!! LOL

A Celebration of Women fabric ATC

"A Celebration of Women"

Made for NZ Fab ATCs.

Reddish-brown background, stamped Mona Lisa image on calico, hand-stitched beads, and a gold scissor charm.

These three fabric ATCs were made for our May swap. I enjoyed making them, even tho I have to stitch everything by hand !!! Maybe I'll get my sewing machine fixed soon, would be nice to be able to finish the edges a bit faster ! LOL

A Celebration of Women fabric ATC

"A Celebration of Women"

Made for NZ Fab ATCs.

Reddish-brown fabric background, stamped shoe on calico, beaded lace on the top, with red buttons. Completely hand-stitched.

A Celebration of Women fabric ATC

"A Celebration of Women"

made for NZ Fab ATCs.

Green fabric background, stamped image on calico, and textured sheer flower fabric on top - with beads in the centre of the flowers.

"Mull Dooney" Art Doll

This is "Mull Dooney". He was made for a private trade with Kathy on ATC Art Dolls. The template is from Artist Trading Dolls - and it's such a fun one to use. I've made quite a few dolls with this template, but he's my favourite !!! If you're a NZ'er you may get the reference to Muldoon !! LOL

I made another one very similar to him for Marla - slightly different colours, but with the same face and embellishments - he's called "Mull Dooney-ish".

Celebration of Women

These were made for ATCs-NZ May swap - "A Celebration of Women". I didn't just make these ones, I made about 20 (!!!) cos they were fun to make, and I decided to keep going with the theme so I would have them for private trades.

Music, Feathers & Autumn ATCs

I made these for ATCs-NZ April swap. The themes were "Music", "Feathers", & "Autumn". The feather stamp is from Rubbadubbadoo - I fell in love with it, had to have it, and hardly ever use it !!! LOL The pen nib stamp is from Glamour Girl Stamps - this is a gorgeous stamp, and is particularly nice gold embossed, which is what I did here.

Green Angel

"Green Angel" made for Mariah of Fantastic Flat Dolls - Maggies group. I enjoyed making this doll - her colours were lovely to work with (Lime greens & Purple), and all the patterns, papers and colours just seemed to fit together as I was making her.

Life is short ...

Altered CD's made for Alternative Artists - this is one of my favourite quotes, and it seemed to go extremely well with the map background, and the pictures.

"Love" & "Hope"

These two were also stitched - the green "Madonna" one has gold beads stitched across the lower right side - this was fun to do.

The pink/yellow "Hope" one was stitched around the background paper, and also around the image. I added a rhinestone to her necklace, as I thought she needed one. I particularly like this stamped image, and enjoy using it.

Hand-stitched ATCs

These two ATC's have been beaded and hand-stitched - I enjoy working with thread & beads - I have such a large collection of beads (and threads) that I really have to remember to use them - otherwise my kids are gonna be left them in my will. That's if they want them !!! LOL

Hand-stitching is sooooooo theraputic - very soothing to the soul. Once I've poked the holes in the card, and picked a colour thread I just lose myself in the repetitive rythym, and find myself solving all the problems of the world.

I really must stitch more often !

Oriental ATCs

This week I've been making ATC's - I only had a few for trading, so I've concentrated on them - almost to the exclusion of everything else - LOL -
since Monday.

These are two of six that I made with an Oriental theme - lots of fun to make. The Japanese woman has been stamped on a long strip of white card, then I've layered all the other papers onto the ATC, and added ribbon, brads, dragonflies etc.

"Blue" & "Wings" postcards

More postcards for a Decorative Envies swap.

This one was "Blue" and "Wings" ...

~ the "Blue" one is a picture from Dover that I printed out on blue paper. I cut it out, and glued it onto writing paper glued to card ~

~ the "Wings" one was fun - I printed the background paper, and cut out the winged children, and glued them to the background ~

My finished Inchies

My 48 finished "Inchies" for NZ-MailArt swap !!!

Mermaid

Today I made this"Mermaid" PAPER doll for our ATC Art Dolls March swap. The template is one that Maggie shared with the group, and it's such an easy one to use. I had to modify the tail - it was originally in one piece - so that it would move. I also used a Mirkwood template for the torso, arms and face.

The paper that I used is some that was sent to me from a member of Cloth Paper Studio group - in a birthday swap. And no ... it's NOT scrapbooking paper !! LOL

I love the look on her face - she's so haughty. Just the way that I think a mermaid would have every right to be.

I will definitely use this template again - mermaids are such fun to make, and I think I would like to make one for myself !!

African Queen

My "African Queen" ... I loved making this doll. She was a joy from start to finish !! I made her for my ATC Art Dolls group February swap - the theme was "Foreign Cultures". The template was one that I found in a "Handmade" magazine - these are great sources for doll templates, even tho they are patterns for cloth dolls.

Her body and limbs are black paper glued onto card, and the stripes on the legs are done with a white pencil. Her dress is lace glued onto braid, and her bra and hair are rhinestones. She has no face, as I couldn't find one that looked right, but I think that she suits not having one.

I had quite a bit of trouble with the wire around her neck and wrists, but after I stopped swearing and cursing I had to admit it was worth it ... LOL

Postcard swap

These postcards were made for a Decorative Envies monthly Postcard swap. They are 6"x 4" (which fit perfectly in a photo album). The "Flower" one is made with scrapbooking paper (surprise, surprise ... LOL). The oval shape is from a set of die-cuts that I bought from the Warehouse, and the daisies have been Kindy Glitz'ed.

The "Green" one has been stamped with some of my favourite stamps - I especially love the Seahorse one - and all the stamping and edges have been done with Adidrondak inks. I do enjoy making postcards, and am planning on participating every month in our swaps.

Altered Notebook

This was made for an Alternative Artists Altered notebook swap.

We had to use "found" objects to decorate a notebook for our partner, and couldn't use any bought items. I discovered that I had a serious lack of "found" stuff in my house (LOL), but I managed to find some paper that
I had done myself with blow-pens - my d-gd and I had a fun & messy day playing with these !! The jandal is a playing card, and I used garden twine to attach the beads. There's builder's tape behind the jandal, and I made the letters myself.

And now I have to start collecting MORE "found" items, so I can keep playing in our swaps !!

All the fun stuff

Dark purple, light aqua and the word "work" - this was what I was given for my challenge when I signed up for ClothPaperStudio's February colour challenge.

The colours aren't difficult to use, but I had problems when I came to adding the word "work" - so I looked thru my Brian Andreas sayings and this one jumped out at me. I made it for my daughter for her birthday - she just turned 19, and she really doesn't want to grow up (I don't want her to either ... LOL).

I enjoyed making this - purple is my favourite colour, and this stamp (from Glamour Girl Stamps) is fun to use. My daughter loved it, and is going to get it framed - I can't wait to see it done, and hanging up in her room.

Button Art Dolls

These are two ATC Art Dolls that I made for my ATC Art Dolls group February swap.

The one on the left is "The Button Fairy" - her body, wings and limbs are made from a doll template, and the stripes have been coloured with Sharpies. I used "feather" wool for her hair.

The one on the right is "The King of Buttons" - I used a stamp that I bought from Glamour Girl Stamps, and punched out a head from a playing card. The crown has been embossed gold, and cut out. He was fun to make - what do you think of his 'belly button' ?